It’s not just holiday shopping season. It’s the season of preventing credit card chargebacks, which can cripple a business and eventually cause a merchant to lose his/her merchant account.
Hence, Instabill has partnered with Chargebacks911 to host the webinar, Keeping Clients Happy and Accounts Healthy in a High Risk Environment, Thursday, Dec. 7 at 1 p.m. eastern time. The webinar features panelists Jarrod Wright, Marketing Director at Chargebacks911, and Chris O’Donnell, Senior Copywriter at Instabill, a provider of high risk merchant accounts to e-commerce businesses.
Keeping Clients Happy and Accounts Healthy in a High Risk Environment
Thursday, Dec. 7 – 1:00 p.m. EST/10:00 PST
Why merchants must be proactive with credit card chargebacks
More than ever, online merchants need to be diligent in preventing credit card chargebacks because the tolerance for such is diminishing. From what we see in high risk business trends, online merchants can’t afford not to prioritize chargeback mitigation. We have blogged ad nauseum about the proactive measures merchants can take to avoid chargebacks:
- Crystal clear billing descriptor with prominent contact information.
- Clear and conspicuous refund/return policy on the front page of your website.
- Whatever a merchant can do to make a return as painless as possible is recommended.
- Knowing the signs that lead to chargebacks (to name only a few):
- Strange e-mail prefixes
- Bulk orders of the same product
- Different shipping and billing address
- Irregular bulk orders from regions rife with fraud
Sharpen those customer service skills
From a customer service standpoint, we’ve become huge fans of the online retail giants Zappos and Amazon. Certainly, Amazon and Zappos have massive customer service divisions and capital behind them. What we love is how both companies ship their products as if they’re expecting the consumer to return them. However, both do two things from which small business merchants can learn (and don’t cost much, if anything):
- Courteous, personal contact: Particularly these days, consumers love when they can get a human being on the phone, chat or e-mail (preferably the first two).
- Offer the customer something: An act of good faith, perhaps a 10-20 percent off coupon or free shipping, so that they remain a customer.
Small gestures such as these can keep a present customer from becoming a former customer.
Is a third party chargeback management firm for you?
Among our speaking points will be the benefits of third party chargeback management companies, such as Chargebacks911. Disputing a credit card chargeback can be a long and arduous process, and quite often merchants may not have the resources or time to do so. Thus, many turn to chargeback management firms to fight their battles for them.
The common issue merchants have with chargeback management companies is affordability. However, merchants do need to remember that such firms are recovering merchants lost revenue while helping them maintain good standing with their acquiring bank.
How do you handle chargebacks? Leave us a comment below.
